Obernewtyn, by Australian author Isobelle Carmody, is the first book in what was originally meant to be a five part series. However, this original plan didn’t quite pan out and The Obernewtyn Chronicles ended up pulling the same kind of seam-splitting expansion that would later be codified in popular culture by The Song of Ice and Fire by growing to a total of seven books. Which were published across nearly thirty years*.
The series itself is as old as I am.
I’ve always had a weird relationship with the chronology of the Obernewtyn Chronicles. I started reading these books at the start of high school after a friend of mine suggested them to me. Unfortunately the book she encouraged me to borrow from the library was actually the then recently published fourth volume—The Keeping Place—and not this one. Thankfully, I put in some holds, and I was able finished the other three books in short order.**
I then had to wait nearly 10 years for the next one. And then a few more years again for the others.
So what I’m saying in a round about way is that I have never sat down and tackled the Obernewtyn books in the correct order, let alone in one go. But when I saw that ‘Part 1’ was an option on this year’s Book Bingo Reading Challenge, I decided that now was the time.
The events of Obernewtyn are set centuries after the Great White, an implied nuclear event that lead to the destruction of civilization. Only the most remote regions were left vaguely habitable and people converted back to an almost agrarian state out of necessity. Books and technology associated with pre-holocaust ‘Beforetimers’ were banned, while a new religious sect who literally worshiped Lud—the Herder Faction—started gaining traction.
As to be expected, radiation poisoning and mutations remained constant reminders of the hubris of the Beforetimers, and any man or animal born with obvious mutation-induced defects were quickly burnt to death. Obvious troublemakers—Seditioners—often suffered from the same fate. However, it slowly became evident that not all ‘mutations’ were physical or immediately obvious at birth. Some could even result from exposure to radioactive materials later in life. Even in this new, insular fanatical little society, too many impromptu bonfires involving ‘normal’ members of a village could result in social instability. So the most of these ‘Misfits’ with subtle or latent defects were instead rounded up and sent to work as laborers on Councilfarms.
Elspeth Geordie has a secret. After her parents were accused of being Seditioners and killed, she was sent to an orphanage to work under dangerous conditions collecting radioactive Whitestick. This left her on a very low rung on the post-apocalyptic social ladder. However, if she were to earn her Normalcy Certificate, she could climb out of the hole she’s been left in. Her elder brother, Jes, has already found a way to become more accepted by general society, so there’s reason to believe Elspeth can do it too. But if she’s unsuccessful and catches the attention of the wrong people, there’s still space for her to fall a few rungs further. If she were to be declared mentally defective and a Misfit, she could end up places worse than an orphanage or a Councilfarm. So while still a young teen, Elspeth has so far lead a closed, secretive life.
But Elspeth is not normal; she has discovered that she has premonitions, the power to read other people’s thoughts and the ability to communicate with animals. When her existence comes to the attention of one of the keepers of Obernewtyn, Elspeth has to make the best of what choices she has to keep herself safe and to keep Jes out of it.
One of the most standout aspects of this novel is how Carmody manages to set the scene and lay down a considerable amount of world building in very short order. Unlike later books in the series, Obernewtyn itself is quite slim at only about 250 pages. And it’s mostly within the brief introduction and Elspeth’s very first chapter we learn of how her world came to be. Obernewtyn is also told in a rather detached first person style that emphasizes Elspeth’s need to keep herself hidden while emphasizing the fear the setting involves. So on the level of staging and atmosphere, Obernewtyn is impressive.
But both of these strengths are also linked to the novels biggest flaws: despite all of the effort put into the background, most of it ends up being a little superfluous to the particular personal story that is being told in the book. Now a lot of the details mentioned become very important later on, but because this first book is so very short, it does come across as a little unbalanced. The same can be said for the detached style. Elspeth is a heroine living in fear, who is, by nature, a little chilly and difficult to approach. You don’t expect here to be a character that is easy to relate to. But it does reach a a point sometimes where the reader has trouble remaining attached as well.
It’s interesting— it’s been so long since I read the first book that I had forgotten how very young adult it is—and how very young most of the cast is. It leans heavily on Elspeth’s status as ‘the outsider’; a perspective that characterizes a lot of YA fiction. Considering that it was published in the late eighties, this actually makes it a little ahead of the curve. It was also surprising to be reminded just how straightforward the plot is compared to later novels, which all went on to develop a bit of a complexity addiction. It is, in hindsight, a very gentle introduction to a fantasy saga.
But I can’t finish without giving a shout out to one of my favorite animal companions in fiction—Maruman. Some teenage protagonists are lucky enough to have nice, cute and friendly animal companions. Not Elspeth. She loves Maruman dearly, but Maruman is—to be short—an arsehole. Elderly and one eyed, Maruman is a cat’s cat. Equal parts grumpy and frustrating, Elspeth suspects he only started to hang around because she fed him. He had been known to bite her. He is often driven mad by his own psychic predictions and seems to have an irrational hatred of the moon. He’s also the closest to a stereotypical ‘old mentor’ character Elspeth has, because without his guidance, she would have been less eager to question Herder teachings about the Beforetime.
Keep an eye on Maruman and his one eye. He is one of the best characters in the series.
So despite the fact it’s been nearly 25 years since I first read this book, I have to say it has held up fairly well. More so than some other books from my childhood and early teens. I’m going to attempt to get through the entire seven books series so we will see whether or not the whole chronicle holds up when read as a single piece.
As stated above, for cbr16bingo, this is Part 1.
